2010 MotoGP Round 10 CARDION AB GRAND PRIX CESKÉ REPUBLIKY: Brno *Spoilerific!*

[El Matador]

that is true.  but it's also true that he has gotten over that a lot in the last 2 seasons.

You might even say that he has grown quite a lot.... Or not.

[gm2]

QP

1.    Dani Pedrosa    ESP   Repsol Honda Team    1m    56.508s   
2.    Ben Spies    USA   Monster Yamaha Tech 3    1m    56.846s   
3.    Jorge Lorenzo    ESP   Fiat Yamaha Team    1m    56.865s   
4.    Casey Stoner    AUS   Ducati Marlboro Team    1m    56.868s   
5.    Valentino Rossi    ITA   Fiat Yamaha Team    1m    57.059s   
6.    Andrea Dovizioso    ITA   Repsol Honda Team    1m    57.117s   
7.    Colin Edwards USA   Monster Yamaha Tech 3    1m    57.222s   
8.    Nicky Hayden USA   Ducati Marlboro Team    1m    57.635s   
9.    Hector Barbera    ESP   Paginas Amarillas Aspar    1m    57.960s   
10.    Loris Capirossi    ITA   Rizla Suzuki MotoGP    1m    57.981s   
11.    Randy de Puniet    FRA   LCR Honda MotoGP    1m    58.089s   
12.    Marco Simoncelli ITA   San Carlo Honda Gresini    1m    58.169s   
13.    Mika Kallio    FIN   Pramac Racing    1m    58.182s   
14.    Marco Melandri    ITA   San Carlo Honda Gresini    1m    58.43s   
15.    Alex de Angelis    RSM   Interwetten Honda MotoGP    1m    58.522s   
16.    Aleix Espargaro    ESP   Pramac Racing    1m    58.700s   

Lorenzo and Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi both finished the session on foot, having crashed out in separate incidents in the closing stages.

Lorenzo fell first, lowsiding from his factory M1, which then skipped across the gravel and vaulted onto the top of a tyre barrier.

The Spaniard was unharmed and briskly walked to his machine to switch off the engine, in an attempt to limit any engine damage.

Rossi's accident was less spectacular, the Italian slipping off after losing the front into the final chicane.

The reigning seven time MotoGP champion, who broke his leg in June, was visibly furious with the error which has left him fifth on the grid.

Meanwhile, Rossi's rumoured 2011 replacement Ben Spies had led the Yamaha challenge for much of the second half of the session, first taking pole with 17 minutes to go, then putting his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 back on top with five minutes remaining.

The MotoGP rookie, who won a World Superbike race at Brno last season, was eventually denied pole by a last-minute lunge from Pedrosa, which put the Repsol Honda rider 0.338sec clear for his third pole of the season.

[Drunken Monkey]

Spies in 2nd...

Fingers crossed for an interesting GP.

[El Matador]

Woot! Go the Ben! Maybe it will be an interesting race after all, I read somewhere that Yamaha had thrown a coule of factory parts to Colin and Ben over the break. I sure hope Rossi didn't injure his leg further, the Jorge-haters will have a field day if he did

[Jester]

 I sure hope Rossi didn't injure his leg further, the Jorge-haters will have a field day if he did

His right leg barely touched the tarmac in the crash.  It was a pretty uninteresting left hand low side.  He was pissed because he was .088 off the pace and probably had a front row spot with that lap.

[Drunken Monkey]

One worry I have is that Spies wasn't terribly consistent, still great effort.

The other thing to note is the potential for surprises, given how many folks crashed during the very end of practice. Lorenzo and Rossi looked to be close to the pole pace but then, bam.

Like I said, fingers crossed for an interesting GP. The magic 8-ball says "signs point to yes"   

[ducpainter]

can someone tell Ben it's OK to smile when he gets on the front row in a GP.

[fastwin]

Maybe he thinks the blank/race face thingy works for Pedro-bot so maybe if he tries it too it might work for him. When he raced AMA SBK I always thought he should use some of that big contract money and buy a personality. When he went to WSBK and got on the world stage he seemed to open up more and actually joked around.

[kopfjäger]

I thought is was a fairly boring race, other than Casey blowing by Ben.

[El Matador]

I thought is was a fairly boring race, other than Casey blowing by Ben.

+1 Not too interesting, would love for Lorenzo to actually have some competition.

[El Matador]

OTOH, the Moto2 race was an absolute cracker. 

[Drunken Monkey]

YAWN.

Still haven't watched moto2 yet though.

[Jester]

can someone tell Ben it's OK to smile when he gets on the front row in a GP.

If that were Pedro, you guys would be calling him names and ripping him a new hole.  Spies is kind of boring in the same fashion to be honest.  I don't even recall him smiling when he took off his helmet at the end of QP.  Maybe he spent too much time alongside Mladin in AMA.

[El Matador]

The difference is that spies is humble and thusly comes across as a reserved, hard working man. Pedrosa is cocky, so he just comes across as an asshole

[ducpainter]

<snip> Maybe he spent too much time alongside Mladin in AMA.

Any time next to Mladin is too much.

The difference is that spies is humble and thusly comes across as a reserved, hard working man. Pedrosa is cocky, so he just comes across as an asshole

I understand Ben is a reserved kind of guy, but great champions have some flair.

He needs to go find some or he'll get the robot ribbing too.